50 Dead in Islamic State Truck-Bomb Attack on Kurdish Town

The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) has claimed responsibility for a triple truck-bomb attack on a town in northeastern Syria that left 50 people dead and injured 80 others, according to the Kurdish YPG militia that controls the area.

Redur Xelil, the spokesman, said that the blasts, carried out by at least two suicide bombers on Thursday, struck outside a hospital, at a marker, and in a residential area in the town of Tel Tamer, located in the Syrian province of Hasaka.

“There is massive destruction in the town, and the number killed is between 50 and 60, all of them civilians,” he added.

Reuters reports that in an online statement, ISIS said that three of its fighters had driven three separate vehicles and detonated the suicide bombs, which were targeting Kurdish “bases.”

Backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, the Kurdish YPG militia, which has been fighting ISIS, has maintained control of the town in Hasaka.

“Kurdish fighters have advanced in the province in recent weeks, notably with the takeover of the town of al-Houl by a U.S.-backed rebel alliance that includes the YPG,” notes Reuters.

Earlier, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which uses a network of ground sources to monitor the conflict in Syria, reported a lower fatality count (at least 22), noting that the number was likely to increase.

Asayish, the Kurdish internal force, incurred some of the casualties, according to the monitor group.

In October, the YPG, the anti-ISIS coalition’s most effective partner on the ground in Syria, joined a new U.S.-backed alliance, the Democratic Forces of Syria.

That month, the U.S. military airdropped nearly 50 tons of ammunition and small arms in northern Syria, intended for the alliance.

At the time, the Pentagon said Syrian Arabs had received the supplies, but news reports claimed the Kurdish YPG militia had received the items.

“As we’ve said before, the group that we intended to receive the items, a group of Syrian Arabs fighting ISIL, received the airdropped items,” Cmdr. Elissa Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman, told Breitbart News. “The Syrian Arab group works very closely with other counter-ISIL ground forces that include Syrian Arabs, Kurds, Turkomen, and other groups native to the region. The particular recipients of this ammunition were Syrian Arab groups.”